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Mafa speaks up in praise of Harrison

Township Rollers assistant coach Mogomotsi ‘Teenage’ Mpote has taken over as the club’s interim care-taker coach, after head coach Mark Harrison resigned to join South African side Baroka FC as technical director.

Team manager Motshegetsi Mafa praised outgoing head coach Harrison professional ethic to Rollers.

“As team manager I have worked with about ten Rollers coaches, the likes of Madinda Ndlovu, Darlington Dodo, Wesley Mondo, Rahman Gumbo, Stanley Mwanga, Daniel ‘Chicco Dance’ Nare, Major David Bright among others. Harrison was the most professional, he changed a lot of things,” Mafa said.
“Harrison emphasized time management and having a well planned training regime. When the week starts we would have meetings and he would provide us with a well-planned training programme for the full week. He also believed in good communication, providing reports and in studying the opposition in detail before coming up with tactics for a game. He even changed the type of food the players can eat on camp,” Mafa said.

Mafa said that the way Harrison conducted affairs at Rollers was similar to what is practiced by some of the most professional sides in the region.

“When we went to benchmark at Kaizer Chiefs and Platinum Stars about preparing a team for the season, they told us the very same things Mark had taught us. Personally he is the one Rollers coach who taught me a lot, and he has changed the way we approach training and match preparation,” said Mafa.

Harrison won the pre-season Kabelano Charity Cup before leading Rollers to a league title, and reaching the 2016 Mascom Top 8 final. He leaves a Rollers side still chasing for the 2016-17 title and in the Mascom semifinal.

Mpote welcomed the players as they reported for duty on Monday (January 2) for a gym session led by physical trainer Chyna Mokaila at Jack’s Gym, and on Tuesday morning (January 3) led the side for their first field training after the Christmas break.

Also, secretary general Khumo Masonya said that for now, as communicated by club president Jagdish Shah in his New Year’s message to the fans, Mpote will be the club’s interim care-taker coach, assisted by goalkeeper coach Thabo Motang.

“That is the official position of management- the one communicated by Mr Shah. We urge our supporters to ignore the speculation on social media already linking us to some other coaches. Management will meet in due time and if there are any developments it will be officially communicated. For now there are no ‘front runners’ for the Rollers coaching job, we will give full backing to [Mogomotsi] Mpote and [Thabo] Motang as they lead the club,” Masonya said.

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